Two of Australia's leading Catholic priests say they are "appalled, ashamed and offended" that former prime minister Tony Abbott would cite the Bible on the world stage to argue for anti-immigration measures.

Retired Bishop Pat Power told Fairfax Media he was "absolutely astounded" and "appalled" by Mr Abbott's use of the Bible to preach a "narrow-minded" and "hard-hearted" approach to some of the world's most vulnerable people.

"I'm ashamed that a former Australian PM would be putting out a message like this," he said.

"People will make their own judgements but that's completely at odds with what's at the heart of Christianity. I'm certainly offended."

He said asylum seeker issues were complex but noted Australia's "history of compassion" and acceptance of refugees in the past had improved the country as a whole.

I'm ashamed that a former Australian PM would be putting out a message like this

Both cited Pope Francis' first visit outside Rome to the Italian migrant island Lampedusa in 2013, where he called for a "reawakening of consciences".

"We have lost a sense of brotherly responsibility," the Pope said at the time.

Father Brennan said the parable of the Good Samaritan was "just as relevant" as it had ever been in relation to the plight of asylum seekers and said Mr Abbott's advice for European leaders was simplistic and wrong.

He said that, while Australia could return asylum seekers to Indonesia because they were not fleeing direct persecution, no European leader could return asylum seekers to Libya with a straight face.

"Mr Abbott is confusing the situation regarding Australia," he said.

He also said Mr Abbott lacked the credentials to preach to the rest of the world because he had not resolved human rights breaches in detention camps on Nauru and Papua New Guinea.

"The appalling thing is that ex-PM Abbott has no right to preach to the world because, having stopped the boats, he insisted on maintaining the facilities at Nauru and PNG," he said.

"They are not just harsh, but cruel, and they don't deter asylum seekers because we've now locked the front door."

Mr Abbott boasted to his Tory audience that the detention camps had all but closed.

Figures published by the Department of Immigration show that, as of September 30, 2015, there were 934 asylum seekers on Manus Island and 631 on Nauru. As of August 31, there were 1807 people in onshore detention facilities.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said on Tuesday that European leaders grappling with a massive crisis did not need advice from Mr Abbott.

He called on Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to state whether he backed the former prime minister's remarks.

"Tony Abbott's flown to Europe to lecture Angela Merkel, the head of the German government, to lecture Francois Hollande in France, to lecture David Cameron in England about what to do with this issue," Mr Shorten said.

"I am not sure European leaders grappling with a scale and a dimension of a problem which we don't have in Australia are necessarily going to benefit by Tony Abbott's advice.

At a later media conference in Adelaide on Wednesday, Mr Turnbull said he would leave it to other commentators to respond to Mr Abbott's remarks.

"Tony has given a speech. I will leave others to run the commentary on it," he said.

"He has obviously had a remarkable career in public life, including two years as PM. We owe him a great debt for that. His views are in hot demand everywhere in the world."